2 BULLETIN 578, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
acres cut per day with a mower and other information regarding a 
normal day’s work for various haying operations. This information, 
while of value in finding out the cost of making hay for the locality, - 
is of little value in studying the methods of making hay and comparing 
their efficiency. 
SCOPE OF BULLETIN. 
This bulletin is not intended to show the cost of making hay in any 
particular locality or section, but rather to show the effects of different 
methods of distribution of labor in the crew, for the purpose of 
Fig. 1.—Route covered in making this study. 
impressing upon the hay grower the importance of working out and 
using a detailed system that will be most applicable to his individual 
farm. 
In order to assist the hay grower to devise such a method, a few 
selected methods are described in detail. These illustrate the four 
general systems in use in making hay. It is not necessary or possible, 
in this brief survey, to go into the details of the almost infinite 
variety of hay-making methods used for different kinds of hay under 
varying yields, sizes of crews, and kinds and extent of machinery used. 
The methods used as illustrations are, for the most part, common in 
their localities, represent small, medium, and large-sized crews, and, 
as a rule, the best practice in vogue. They are presented in order of 
increasing size of crews. That the grower may be able to compare 
the cost and efficiency of the method he is using with those described, 
a uniform rate of 20 cents per hour for man labor and 10 cents per 
hour for horse labor has been used. These rates vary somewhat in 
